The problem the present device is directed to overcoming is the prevention of unauthorized access to data on discarded discs with a magnetic medium on their surface(s) for the storage of digital information. Such discs include compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs; sometimes referred to as digital versatile discs), and compact minidiscs (smaller in diameter than conventional CDs; used in digital photography and other end uses in which a smaller digital storage medium is desired). Herein, the term “compact disc” and the abbreviation “CD” should be understood to encompass these and other shatterable discs on or in which some perceivable information has been imparted. Such discs are most often formed from plastic material, but the discs could conceivably formed from other suitable materials having the capability of shattering like CDs.
One prior, conventional solution to this problem involved obliterating the data stored on compact discs by imposing magnetic fields upon the surface of the discs, thereby affecting the electromagnetic properties of the disc and the data stored thereon. The disadvantage of the magnetization approach is the uncertainty as to whether the data has been completely obliterated rather than rendered only partially unreadable, in which case some of the data stored on the CD could still be retrieved.
Another prior, conventional solution involved scratching or otherwise physically marring the readable surface of the CD, thereby rendering the scratched or marred portions of the surface unreadable. Like the prior magnetization approach, the disadvantage of the physical marring approach is also that the data could have been rendered only partially unreadable rather than completely obliterated, in which case some of the data stored on the CD could still be retrieved, especially from the unmarred portions.
Solutions involving the melting or burning to destroy of a CD to render the data thereon inaccessible are also disadvantageous. In this regard, the melting or burning cannot normally be accomplished in the workplace, but is more often carried out by an outside service. Entrusting a CD with sensitive data to an outsider for destruction also carries with it a finite risk that the secrecy of the data will be compromised, either accidentally or perhaps by subversive means.